Cigarette smuggler to pay back cash (From Swindon Advertiser)

Cigarette smuggler to pay back cash

11:59am Wednesday 12th September 2012 in News

A former RAF aircraftman who was jailed for his part in smuggling cigarettes through RAF Lyneham has been ordered to pay back £80,000.

Last year, Paul Garbutt, 31, of Avon Grove, Billingham, Teeside, was jailed after admitting conspiracy to cheat the public revenue. He was involved in a scam which brought non-duty paid cigarettes into RAF bases in Wiltshire and Oxfordshire.

Garbutt was sentenced to three years and four months for his part in the operation.

The Bristol Crown Court confiscation hearing decided he must repay the money within six months or serve a further 21 months.

Seven people were sentenced in February 2011 for smuggling and money laundering offences.

It followed an investigation by Revenue and Customs and the RAF Special Investigations Branch which found non-duty paid cigarettes were brought into RAF Lyneham and RAF Brize Norton.

In 2008 and 2009 1.14 million cigarettes were smuggled on flights from Oman, evading £204,000 in revenue, and six million cigarettes were smuggled from Afghanistan, evading £1.1m.